The study of Archaeology in North America; its relationship to the Native Americans. Lost history, lost civilizations, Learn the answers, see the proof and lets discover together the lost history of Pre Columbus America, and all the great civilizations some larger than Rome in their day. Read the legends, see the evidences and take it from there. Central and South America as well, Anciently their was trade between all the Ancient American Lands with others.

NEW! Exploring The Book of Mormon In Americas Heartland Photographic Book

NEW! Exploring the Book of Mormon In America's Heartland, A Visual Journey of Discovery by Rod L. Meldrum is a gorgeous, large format 200+ page heirloom quality photographic journey into the exciting new "Heartland Model" geography. Click on the Picture above to learn more. Picture Book Cover Click to Order

Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Prehistoric Treasure In The Fields Of Indiana

The Prehistoric Treasure In The Fields Of Indiana

by Micah Schweizer

January 3, 2011

It's 1988. Workers building a road in Mt. Vernon, Ind. damage an ancient burial mound, causing a treasure trove of silver and copper to pour from the ground. A bulldozer operator decides to grab some of the treasure. He ends up in prison for looting.

It sounds like the plot of an Indiana Jones film, only it's not a movie. The treasure belonged to a mysterious and advanced culture that flourished in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. nearly 2,000 years ago. Because it predates the written record, this prehistoric culture doesn't have a Native American name but in the 1800s, archaeologists dubbed it the Hopewell Tradition.Hopewell Clay FigurinesEnlarge Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

Clay figurines discovered on the Mann Hopewell Site show faces with slanted eyes, which were not a Hopewell feature. Some believe the figurines show a connection between Indiana and Central or South America.Hopewell Clay FigurinesIndiana State Museum and Historic Sites

Clay figurines discovered on the Mann Hopewell Site show faces with slanted eyes, which were not a Hopewell feature. Some believe the figurines show a connection between Indiana and Central or South America.

An exhibit of artifacts from the Hopewell site, curated by the Indiana State Museum and on display at the Angel Mounds State Historic Site in Evansville, Ind. through Jan. 14, is raising some fresh questions about these ancient Americans.

The Treasure In The Fields

Just a few miles away from where the road workers first discovered their treasure lie fields of cornstalk stubble and gently rolling hills. But they're more than just hills.

"What you're seeing here is a complex of earthen structures that were very purposefully and very specifically built along this cultural landscape," says Michele Greenan, an archaeologist and curator at the Indiana State Museum.

"There's a number of mounds here — probably 20, maybe even more mounds, earthen architectural features that were built for different purposes," like ceremonies or burial, she says.

The fields are called the Mann Hopewell Site, after the farmer who owned their sprawling 500 acres. Two of site's earthen structures are among the biggest mounds built anywhere by the Hopewell, which was not a tribe so much as a way of life that flourished in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. between about A.D. 100 and 500.

'It's Like Vegas ... For Archaeologists'

Amateur archaeologist Charlie Lacer began walking the Mann fields in the 1950s, collecting what he found along the way.

"You could find stuff that you could not find [on] any other site around here," Lacer says. "I mean, there [were] just tons of materials there. You couldn't pick up everything you saw — you had to be kind of selective, particularly if you were carrying this stuff in your pockets."

Lacer managed to stuff a lot into his pockets — 40,000 artifacts that he donated to the Indiana State Museum two years ago. Four hundred of those pieces are now on display in nearby Evansville for the first time ever.

The exhibition is titled Cherished Possessions: The Mann Hopewell Legacy of Indiana. It was nearly called Indiana's Egypt, but the attempt at archaeology a la Indiana Jones lost out to historical precision. Still, it's almost-name does give a sense of the Mann Hopewell Site's importance.The discovery of incisor teeth from grizzly bears, which are not native to Indiana, shows that Hopewell residents of the Mann Site had contact with the North American West, where grizzly bears are more common.Enlarge Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

The discovery of incisor teeth from grizzly bears, which are not native to Indiana, shows that Hopewell residents of the Mann Hopewell Site had contact with the North American West, where grizzly bears are more common.The discovery of incisor teeth from grizzly bears, which are not native to Indiana, shows that Hopewell residents of the Mann Site had contact with the North American West, where grizzly bears are more common.Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

The discovery of incisor teeth from grizzly bears, which are not native to Indiana, shows that Hopewell residents of the Mann Hopewell Site had contact with the North American West, where grizzly bears are more common.

"It's like Vegas ... for archaeologists," says Mike Linderman, who manages state historic sites in western Indiana. Linderman says the Mann Hopewell Site is bigger than its more famous Hopewell counterparts in Ohio, and it's filled with even more exotic materials, like obsidian glass that has been traced to the Yellowstone Valley in Wyoming, and grizzly bear incisor teeth.

"Grizzly bears obviously are not from Indiana, never have been," Linderman says. "There's a theory out there now that instead of being trade items, these items [were] actually being collected by the people from Mann Site on rite-of-passage trips they [were] taking out to the West. You know, it's something big if you've killed a grizzly bear and you can bring its teeth back to Indiana."

Jaguars and panthers aren't from Indiana, either, but they show up at the Mann Hopewell Site as beautifully detailed carvings. Put them together with clay figurines that have slanted eyes — not a Hopewell feature — and Linderman says we could be looking at a connection between Indiana and Central or South America.

Digging Deep For Clues

And that just scratches the surface, so to speak. In 2006, researcher Staffan Peterson did the archaeological version of an MRI scan on 100 acres at the site. Whenever his equipment detected an archaeological feature, a dot showed up on a map.

"Every day, we'd download our data and our jaws would drop," Peterson says. "It was kind of like buckshot, there were so many. And we were able to map out upwards of 8,000 archaeological features."

Two of the most notable features are what Peterson calls "wood henges" — like Stonehenge, but made of wooden posts — which he believes may be one of a kind in the U.S.

But there may be an even more remarkable discovery — one that could rewrite history books. Linderman says scientists are starting tests on what looks like evidence of lead smelting, a practice that, until now, was only seen in North America after the arrival of the French, 1,000 years after the Hopewell Tradition.

Lead smelting is just one of the many questions archaeologists will be targeting in upcoming digs that they hope will clear up at least a few of the Mann Hopewell Site's — and American prehistory's — mysteries.

"It's a sleeping giant," says museum curator Greenan, "and it's going to take its place as one of the most important archaeological sites in North America."

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The Lost Civilizatioins of North America

The Lost Civilization of North America is a powerful film that gives answers to the question of why we haven’t heard about the great civilizations that existed on the North American continent and why theories about their origins have passed out of place and time. Awarded Best Multicultural Documentary for International Cherokee Film Festival (ICFF) 2010. Director Roger Kennedy, author and retired director of the Smithsonian View the TRAILER at the bottom in video area of blog.

Rod L. Meldrum on location at The Great Octagon earthworks, Newark, Ohio

Mic Mac Indians writen language vs Book of Mormon

Ancient American Artifacts - Wayne May

Wayne May on Ancient American Archaeology

A few sites, videos, films about why people follow Jesus Christ & his teachings

This area is for Multi-media about how people feel about Jesus Christ & Joseph Smith Jr. Why they believe.In the Book store there are many item's relating to these subjects and I have taken the liberty to add some about a great controversial part of this Blog, The Book of Mormon & Joseph Smith Jr. so you can watch or read it for your self his story & things relating to it's coming about so that one can get a feeling why members of 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' are so fond of this Book & the man known as Joseph Smith Jr. I add these things for peoples learning to put it into historical perspective. Also I have added in the store some books and DVD's about the Wife of Joseph Smith Jr., Emma Hale - Smith. Why? to show her side of the story, and why she stayed with Joseph from the beginning of their story to his assassination in 1845 by a mob, note: at this time Joseph was a candidate for U.S. President he chose to do this to help the atrocities and harm happening to his peoples much similar to those of the Native American's at the time. Many unconstitutional and immoral deeds done and ignored by the Governors & D.C. & White House, President at the time, so he did this to get media attention and hope for peace for his people. But one of his campaign promises was to Free the Slaves, and this was a major reason he was assassinated. So some history of these peoples not much known off today I feel is important to have a back ground understanding as we take their beliefs, theories and with today's understanding see if it matches up with facts as far as Archaeology & other stories we know today. This is added due to the nature of the Blog and the evidences surrounding some of the artifacts about the Stories of the Book of Mormon & possible links to North America, so Who or what is this book? and did Jesus Christ really live? Did he visit the peoples (other sheep & folds) on Earth after he left Jerusalem as he promised he would? With many witness's all over the Earth of a Christ like Prophet or Creator or God who came and visited and taught his gospel, then these are some modern stories, and reasons to support those of the Ancients. When the facts out way the theory, one must go with the facts, sadly many stay with their theory even after is seems beyond feasibility.You see based on my studies over these many years, I find and the facts direct one to know there must have been a Jesus Christ, for he was seen & remembered by Many Nations, cultures, peoples all over the Earth, not just the Jerusalem regions of the Middle East, and Europe. So I add these for your review, and to understand or to learn, then make ones own decision if one so desires to learn more about Jesus Christ.You see, I search for truth, to solve many puzzles and questions, however I know of my self through personal prayer, fasting, learning, that God lives, Jesus is the Christ and literal Son of God our Father, and many other things as he does answer prayers of the humble seekers of truth. To some this may seem outlandish, however I know of my self he is real, and he does love and care for each of us.My invitation is to every soul on Earth to one day find such happiness in this knowledge, that does not come from books, but from the Spirit of God and revelation in your prayers being answered.Stephen T. Huls, Tsul-Kalu of the Ani-Yunwiya or the Cherokee, the Principal People a remnant of the house of Lehi of the house of Joseph, also Ephraim , and Israel, Noah, and father Adam.

"Peace is Coming" Art by Jon McNaughton

One Nation Under God - Jon McNaughton

The Via Dolorosa - Jon McNaughton

The Forgotten Man - Jon McNaughton

Nicole Sheahan performs an original song entitled "Why I Believe."

He Lives, a testimony of Jesus Christ, Modern Apostles of Christ Testify of Him

Book of Mormon - Messiah in America, Elder Jeffery R. Holland, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Elder Jeffery R. Holland,"Testimony of the Book of Mormon" Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration-A movie about his life & legacy

Emma Smith My Story - Film Trailer.

This is the Trailer, great film, can be found at the book store below.